Wis. police nab 'Flat Tire Bandit'

GREEN BAY, Wis. (WLUK) - Police have arrested a man they are calling the "Flat Tire Bandit." Thursday morning Green Bay police arrested 50-year-old John E. Johnson. They say he worked a scam on unsuspecting women to gain access to their cars, and steal their money and credit cards.

John E Johnson was arrested in a Green Bay parking lot around 7:30 a.m. Thursday. Police had been looking for the Green Bay man for a couple of weeks. They say parking lots in Green Bay and Ashwaubenon are where he committed his crimes.

"In his scheme, what he's looking at is to make sure he can get inside their car," said Lt. Jody Crocker, Ashwaubenon Public Safety.

Police say Johnson's scheme was to find a woman shopping alone. When she went back to her car, he would approach her, point out a flat tire, and offer to help fix it.

"He would have the woman try to hold the air nozzle against the tire while he went inside the vehicle and plugged the accessory power into the cigarette lighter," Crocker explained. "While he was inside the vehicle he was able to rummage through their purse, steal money, credit cards, things like that. And then he would tell them the pump's not working, they'll have to 'find another method, but sorry, I tried to help,' and he would go about his way."

Police say Johnson used that method on four different times, and all four times, the victims were women.

"When he would leave, the victim would just be of the impression that, 'Wow, that was a really nice man trying to help me,'" Crocker said.

Crocker says Johnson didn't just happen to find people with flat tires, he made the tires flat by slashing them.

Johnson found his victims in four different parking lots in August. Wednesday police released a photo taken by a grocery store surveillance camera, a number of tips came in, and Johnson was arrested Thursday morning.

"I think a really good lesson to be learned here is really keep your guard up no matter what you're doing," said Crocker.

Johnson was expected to be charged Friday.